Two Singapore heritage businesses used Shanghai’s China International Import Expo (CIIE) to gauge demand and find commercial partners, illustrating different approaches to entering China as the Singapore Business Federation promotes the market to local companies.
The federation said before the Nov. 5-10 event that its delegation would include 54 Singapore companies, among them Heritage Tanglin Puff Since 1952 Pte Ltd and See Hai Tat Medical Hall (Singapore) Pte Ltd. SBF described the expo as a way for Singapore firms to connect with Chinese buyers and build partnerships.
Heritage Tanglin Puff sold all 4,000 curry puffs it brought to the event by Nov. 9, The Straits Times reported. The newspaper said 2026 was the brand’s first appearance at the expo. Second-generation owner Ray Ng told the paper that expansion into China would require local employees, saying, “We must have the manpower here, and it’s not easy.” A CapitaLand store profile dates the company’s founding to 1952.
See Hai Tat is pursuing distribution for a scented roll-on based on its Three Star Brand medicated oil. The company’s history dates the formula to 1927 and says it launched the aromatherapy roll-on in 2018. The Straits Times reported that See Hai Tat first brought the product to the CIIE in 2024.
The newspaper also reported that the company shipped an initial 20,000 bottles to China about two months before Nov. 10, at 39 yuan each, and secured an online distribution partner. It reported more than 15 business-to-business inquiries at the expo.
Tan Yu Chuan, a See Hai Tat business leader, told The Straits Times that younger consumers were less inclined to use traditional medicated oil because of its strong smell and associations with illness or older generations. The company says its current roll-on products use naturally derived botanical scents.
“China remains an important long-term growth market for Singapore businesses,” SBF Chairman Mark Lee said in the federation’s pre-expo announcement. SBF said Singapore businesses had generated SGD 533 million in cumulative trade value through the CIIE since its first edition in 2018; that figure was published before the 2026 expo. The federation also reported that Singapore-China goods trade totaled SGD 162.85 billion in 2025.
